For payment by telephone, there are currently two techniques:
in the first technique, the price of the telephone call is billed by the network operator at a tariff allowing for a sharing of the receipts with the service supplier. In France, this technique is known as the "kiosk" technique. As the service is paid by the telephone subscriber, not always consulted at the time of using this service, this technique, should it result in billing excess sums, may give rise to problems, namely refusal of the subscriber to pay for the service. Services able to be paid for by the "kiosk" technique thus remain relatively small,
in the second technique, the identity of the caller may be revealed to an operator by informing the latter of his name and secret code number. The service supplier, desirous to be paid in advance, would have the option of requiring financial cover from his potential customer and by informing him of the customer's secret code to be entered in a machine or revealed to an operator before being able to take advantage of the service required. This particular case is applicable to requests for information sent to the French "SVP" company. However, the management of subscription numbers in cumbersome. Furthermore, these code numbers remain difficult to ensure confidentiality. Finally, customers are not always prepared to take the initial step concerning subscription before having to wait for receiving a code.